So i saw this thread concept for GD3's and thought we could use one for GE8's!

GD3 thread:
https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...ng-thread.html

I figure some of you guys with lots of experience and badass fits could maybe drop some concentrated knowledge for us seekers.

My fit is a work in progress, and I've still got a long way before i can say I'm done, but i've benefitted most so far from the ground control lowering springs/coilover sleeves, and the buddy club short shifter. my next mod is for buddy club extended ball joints (RCA's) to help with my control arm alignment and weird bump steer I'm currently experiencing...

 

To be honest, neither of those probably really improved handling.

What tires do you have?

 

well right now i have kuhmo ecsta AST (205/40/17) they were an improvement from the 175/65/15 i started with (the weight is roughly equivalent)

 

That is where you have a TON of room for improvement.

 

so i might get the opportunity to grab some 15" mini wheels that weigh 12lbs apiece, but are only 6 wide" i'd probably have to move to a 175/65 tire in that case (~16 lb tire) but i'd be dropping 10lbs per corner overall.... I'm guessing this would far outweigh the loss of width in tread patch since my engine isn't modded... thoughts?

oh i forgot to mention that the 17" rims are +38, weigh 20lbs each, and the tires are about 18lbs each

 

Why not 16x7 so you can put on proper 205/50/16?

 

turns out they are only 5.5" wide called R81s or "holies", aka "imola"... i got them. I'm looking forward to finding some rubber to slap on them and autocross... any recommendations? tire width for a 5.5" rim?

i was thinking 185/60/15 but can't find any performance options in that size...

 

Those are way too narrow for performance purposes.

 

My rear sussy will soon be reworked with some new bits from J's. A rear active retainer setup with a slightly shorter rear SWIFT spring.

Here is a bad Google translation of the functionality of it:

The follow-up the rear suspension to active! ! !

Torsion beam car essential cornering item is finally appeared.

Torsion beam type FF car with a rear suspension has become a structure in which a change in the geometry by Bush and stroke but is a spring part place that is a harmful effect of this movement. Especially tuning car raised the spring rate to drop the vehicle height is vertical position of the bump amount (subduction amount) the greater the spring seat surface will be shifted back and forth and left and right.

Therefore it takes the stress obliquely to the rear spring, becomes the appropriate shrinkage how the left and right of the spring is different from the spring rate is become unstable stroke can not be exhibited, the proper grip of the rear tire it can not be used to the limit.

Active retainer, the upper and lower spring seat surface and by the mobile at pillow ball, horizontally even if any such movement torsion beam to maintain the spring seat surface.
To generate an appropriate rate, it will move to the linear torsion beam to the road surface.

Not only feeling of grounding of the rear is improved when cornering by this effect, because the rear is made to move us to follow the front of the movement, more now Fumeru quickly the accelerator, the rising speed is greatly improved .

Our SPL damper kit (CRUX · OHLINS), of course, be mounted on third-party car harmonic to realize an improvement of dramatic cornering speed.

Installation does not require drilling process such as a chassis because it is possible to bolt.

It is handling parts that effective from the circuit to the street.


Umehara-san and I were talking a few weekends back at his little J's meeting and I asked him about this rear active retainer after talking with Kaz about it. He said it completely changes the handling aspect of the car and the car becomes even dartier with cornering speeds vastly increased. Then he showed me some nice little front lower arm additions that can give another 3 degrees or something of camber. Think on that day the J's GK was rolling around on like -6.5 degrees or something crazy.

Anyways, I've already asked Kaz to order it up, he said it is about a month for it to be made as it is made to order like most everything. That works as they are having another year-end Suzuka event on the 11th of December so I'm really eager to feel the difference, especially on 130R as last time the rear just felt like it was going to come out forcing me to not go wide open throttle like I should have been able to. Of course overall sussy settings played a part in that.

 

Go with the 175/65/15's. You don't need insanely aggressive tires to maintain grip in a Fit. I use Falken Ziex ZE-912s, and I couldn't break them loose on most surfaces. Yes, they will slip on gravel, and they aren't really good for snow & ice. But unless you have a lot of extra power (Sprintex kit, turbo), I doubt you'll have any real issues.

For performance, 205/50/16 is the ideal size on the Fit, but the cost of lightweight wheels in a 16" diameter is a lot more than I'd be interested in paying for wheels for a Fit. You know the OEM Mini wheels are going to be well made, too. No worries about knock offs that are known to break or crack under stress (and well made wheels are usually expensive).

 

WHAT?

I just spec'd out supremely wonderful combo for a GE, 16x7 TR C1 & 205/50/16 RE71R....for $1000 from TireRack.

That is dirt cheap. And will actually improve how the car drives. Stop spreading misinformation.

 

I personally couldn't recommend Falken ZE-912s at all on a car seeing spirited driving on a regular basis. From what I've experienced, the tires seem to be much harder than what the UTQG says... almost like the tire seems about heat cycled out from the jump. Again, this is from what I experienced first hand.

Maybe the more aggressive Azenis RT615K is a jump better than at BUT I can't honestly say since I have ran this tires... me and Falken tires tend to not get along. Haha

As for tires, yes a 205/50R16 would be a great choice on a 16x7 wheel for the GE8 & likely the GK5 since they have similar wheel specs as standard equipment. In space egg's case, I think a 195/55R15 could potentially be a good choice... otherwise a 185/60 may be a good candidate.

1) It's a shorter tire than stock, which will assist a little with gearing.

2) It's a fairly common tire still, a nice mix of tires are available for use in the treadwear ranges of 200 to 400 for summer tires and possibly higher if all seasons are sought after.

3) Though his current AX wheel set is 5.5 inches wide, the 195/55 will safely mount to it. Despite being a little baggy (slight muffin top affect in other words) on the wheel. Sure, it may not help with tire flex BUT it gives him a better chance on having a tire that will work with other potential wheelsets (Let's face it, wheels and tires usually aren't cheap) so he can run these then transfer over to a wider wheel if he later chooses.

I agree. TRMotorsport C1s are by far the BEST bang for buck wheel I have stumbled across to get started in autocross or road racing. You can't really beat the price per lb for the wheels... unless you go used or get a crackhead cheap deal honestly.

Also the Bridgestone RE71R is an amazing tire (along with the Dunlop ZII Star Spec & Yokohama Advan AD08R) to get if you really want to be quick on the track or have some serious fun on your local fun run... BUT they can also hinder your progression in learning how your vehicle reacts in controlled course environments if you jump from say a simple 500 treadwear all season to a known FAST street tire like those listed above in this paragraph.

Effectively speaking, taking such a noticable jump in tire compound could actually mask some of the driver's weaknesses and they may not be able to fully reach the car or tire's limit. This could potentially have them missing out on understanding threshold braking, learning to give smooth inputs with steering, throttle and brake along with weight transitionin and possibly more.

I personally made a similar realization by going from ENVigors to AD08Rs to the reverse stagger NT01/R888 R comp combo that I have... no matter what I did, I couldn't fully utilize my Fit and the tires to THEIR limit with the R comps on due to changing to R comps too soon.

 

OMG the internet ate my lengthy well thought out reply. grrrr
in sum:
*thanks for all the helpful feedback
*For autocross I'm going to be on the lookout for cheap 16" options and tires, and sell my 17" to help pay for them (I'm on a ratrod budget, and I'm probably not ready to "graduate" to pure racer tires anyways)
* ill use the R81 Holies for daily driving, I'm looking at getting 185/60/15 Kuhmo Sense. this would put me at 27 lbs per corner with a smaller than stock radius, (this should be both fun and practical)

thanks again for ALL the feedback.

Also eager to hear more 555!